The return of color

Today, we are gathered to pretend to mourn the death of one of the worst phases in decorating history: the phase where the only appliances available came in black, stainless steel, white, or beige.

Looking through old magazines, I always loved how color coordinated kitchens could be in the 1950s, 60s, and even 70s. Case in point:

You want a kitchen with a blue fridge and a blue stove to match your blue linoleum and everything else? No problem.

Red has started to return as an accent color in electronics; a few years ago I noticed red microwaves and toasters starting to seep into the mix, and now red coffee makers are beginning to appear. Even KitchenAid recognized this trend early in the game and started offering their mixers in a variety of bright, cheery colors:

I myself have coveted the Pistachio and Bayleaf colors since they came out; oh, they’d look so nice in my kitchen and would beat the “gunmetal gray” KitchenAid I received from my mom about fifteen years ago. But hey, it was free, so who am I to complain?

It is so nice to see colors back on the shelves so that kitchens can indeed look unique. I’ve had enough of stainless steel boringness to last a lifetime. Kitchens are supposed to look cozy, not like the cold, impersonal kitchens of the local restaurants. Color helps create that.

Now, instead of being forced to live with a boring black coffeemaker, we can use it as an accent with a bright red one. This one’s from Shopko:

While color is certainly welcome in my eyes, it’s the cheap retro-themed appliances that are maddening to me. I love the retro trend, but for the love of God, could someone design a truly retro themed appliance that didn’t have to ANNOUNCE that it was retro?

See the writing on the top? While I was initially appreciative of the retro font they used, I was annoyed by the label it spelled out: Nostalgia Electronics. Even worse, the little oval plate on the bottom announces “RetroSeries.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah …. we GET it. Certainly one can’t look at a red microwave with art deco features and not understand it’s a retro look. Thanks for letting us know!

(Just for the record, I realize that a retro-themed microwave is an anachronism and that it doesn’t even make logical sense. Just throwing that out there …)

Nostalgia Electronics also offers a cool looking refrigerator, but again, they ruin it by stating the obvious:

*sigh*

Anyway … I’m still waiting for this trend to continue to the point where we can not only have a variety of colors available, but also a variety of styles.